Emblem Restored/Before and After pics

[woodrow]

Just thought I would show a before and after picture of my center dash Plymouth emblem.  Since I got my car a couple of months ago I have been attacking every little detail that I can address without going overboard financially.  I've been loathing the appearance of the dash emblem as it was just awful looking while basically being a very prominent feature of the dash.  Your eyes are kind of drawn to it. So tonight I fixed it.  Or at least I feel I made it look better.  I might start posting a few  before and after pictures in this thread as I myself find  that to be thoroughly entertaining and interesting. Please feel free to post your own as I would love to see them.

[Ajgkirkwood]

how did u improve it? just by sanding it?

 

[woodrow]

I started wet sanding with 600 grit, then 1200, 2000.  Its important to know that the back of the emblem is coated with a solid rubbery material.  this material has become dried and flaking off in some areas causing the emblem to become see through in some areas.  However, more of the material has not flaked off and is in fact adhered very well.  the back of the emblem is not smooth , rather it is very rough so cleaning off the stuff that never flaked off is pretty well impossible.  So the trick was to find a paint which is the same color as the coating and I did.  so after many coats of paint the back looks good and uniform.  after drying between coats with a heat gun  I used some plastic lens push and the buffing wheels and just kept pushing til it looked good.  it's not perfect but I'm happier with it now then before I started.  before I install it I will probably polish some more and then give it a couple coats of wax.   

[db_ca]

Excellent!!  But what was the source of the matching paint?  Thanks!!!!

[woodrow]

I have dozens of cans of spray paints from past projects.  if you notice the first picture, I took it on the hood of my 89 foxbody 5.0.  believe it or not the paint on that  car is a near perfect match to the emblem.  and I of course have a spray bomb of the paint on that car for touch ups.  but it took a lot of comparing the emblem to other cans of paint before I realized the similarity. but ideally you would remove all of the backing material on the emblem and really be able to do any dark color. i think black would look really good.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I stripped mine completely of brown paint and refinished it in a gray to match the new color of the interior.

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2019 by Plymouthy Adams

[Frank Elder]

Nice job Woodrow! At first I thought your were working on the speaker grille medallion.

[Silverdome]

What is an "89 foxbody 5.0"? Is it a 1989 Mustang? If so, then what is the paint code? Maybe you can shoot us a picture of the label on the spray paint can.

Edited March 15, 2019 by Silverdome

[woodrow]

yes it's an 89 mustang with  the 5 liter 302 High Output engine. they call that era of mustang's and some similar Ford cars "foxbody". I sure can post the paint.  I will be in my garage tonight getting ready to have my Plymouth appraised tomorrow so I will get a pic of it then. 

[Silverdome]

On 3/15/2019 at 3:10 PM, woodrow said:

yes it's an 89 mustang with  the 5 liter 302 High Output engine. they call that era of mustang's and some similar Ford cars "foxbody". I sure can post the paint.  I will be in my garage tonight getting ready to have my Plymouth appraised tomorrow so I will get a pic of it then. 

 

Any word on the paint yet?